To Pander Or Not To Pander, That Is The Question...

Joe Williams, Exec Dir of DFER, shares a trenchant analysis of Obama's decision whether to speak at the NEA convention/Panderpalooza.  I love this line: "a guy who is running for president on the whole 'Yes We Can' theme doesn't want to spend too much time kissing the rings of the folks who bankroll the 'No We Can't' movement in American public eduation."

To Pander Or Not To Pander, That Is The Question...

www.dfer.org/2008/07/to_pander_or_no.php

For weeks people have been buzzing about whether Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama (suddenly the newfound darling of those who were trying valiently to chop his legs off on the campaign trail) would follow the traditional Democratic script and show up at the big (and fun) National Education Association annual July 4th weekend Panderpalooza conference.

Normally at this point, the presidential nominee owes the world to the NEA for all the work it did to get him to the general election, except, uh, Obama doesn't owe nuthun this time around, yo. In fact, there are some folks in the Obama camp who can point to scars they suffered at the NEA's hands in battlegrounds like Nevada (and others who have tracked every dollar the AFT spent trying to decapitate their man Obama.)

So the decision about how to handle the Representative Assembly/Panderpalooza is a tough one. On the one hand, it makes no sense for a candidate who cares about education to even remotely come off as having snubbed teachers - a factor most of us consider to be the most important ingredient in all of this education stuff.

On the other hand, a guy who is running for president on the whole "Yes We Can" theme doesn't want to spend too much time kissing the rings of the folks who bankroll the "No We Can't" movement in American public eduation.

So it appears Obama has reached the perfect compromise: He won't attend the NEA Panderpalooza event in DC this weekend, but will have his speech beamed in via satellite. Good call, I think.

It is worth noting that John Kerry also made the decision four years ago to skip out on the NEA Panderpalooza event, appearing via satellite with his recently-announced running-mate, John Edwards. NEA boss Reg Weaver didn't take too kindly to the snub (remember when he held up his cell phone so that all 10,000 delegates could scream their disapproval at once?)

I think it is safe to say the the political "golden era" for the NEA is long past...